


Saviors and Princesses

by cdybedahl



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Community: femslash12, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-30
Updated: 2012-11-30
Packaged: 2017-11-19 21:55:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/578069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cdybedahl/pseuds/cdybedahl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aurora didn't really plan to join the voyage to Snow White's castle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Saviors and Princesses

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sexonastick](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sexonastick/gifts).



> In the story, a garment known as a _gambeson_ is mentioned a couple of times. This is a thick padded coat-like thing worn under a suit of armor. Its function is both to help absorb and distribute impacts, and to stop the outer armor from chafing and/or pinching the skin of the wearer. I'm not sure if we actually see Mulan wearing one, but her armor looks rigid enough that she'd need one.

The fire crackled comfortably, and spread light and warmth through the small clearing in which the four women had set up camp. Emma and Snow were sitting close together, talking in low whispering voices. Probably sorting out that whole mother and child thing. Mulan was mending something on her armor, strong weather-worn hands working with metal wire and pliers. And Aurora was trying to get a splinter out of her finger. She’d got it while collecting firewood, and it was slowly driving her crazy. Stuck just under the skin of her left index finger, it dug in deeper every time she used the hand. She’d been trying to get it out on and off for most of the day without any success, and it had made her already bad mood so much worse. Once more, her nails failed to get purchase on the splinter, and she cursed out loud.  
“You’re not very much like her,” Mulan said.  
Aurora glared at her.  
“I’m not very much like who?” she said.  
“The princess Philip waited for all those years,” Mulan said.  
“You try sleeping away a quarter of a century and see if you don’t wake up cranky,” Aurora said.  
She dropped her hands on her knees and sighed. That splinter wasn’t coming out. Maybe she’d better just live with it until it went away on its own.  
“He talked about me, huh?” she said.  
“Yes,” Mulan said. “More at the beginning, less toward the end.”  
Aurora laughed briefly. It sounded bitter and angry even to herself.  
“Well, I’m sorry I couldn’t be better,” she said.  
“He was unrealistic,” Mulan said.   
Aurora turned her head to look at her.  
“What?” she said.  
Mulan shrugged.  
“For almost thirty years, he was faithful to you,” she said. “He never had anyone else. Never thought of any other woman. Just looked forward to waking his sleeping beauty.”  
She looked up at Aurora, face impassive.  
“No living person could live up to that,” she said.  
Aurora hadn’t really thought about what Philip might have done during all those years. But now that Mulan mentioned it, staying single for all that time didn’t sound very healthy. Not that she wanted him to have had someone else, really, but she would’ve expected him to have a life. Under the circumstances.  
“You were soldiers, right?” she said.  
“Yes,” Mulan said.  
“I’n not a soldier,” Aurora said. “But I know what soldiers do to relax and loosen up after fighting. With drinking and partying and… things.”  
Mulan stayed silent.  
“If he never…” Aurora began. “If he, as you say, stayed true to me, didn’t that make that sort of thing kind of weird? If he didn’t, you know, do the same as the other men?”  
Mulan nodded.  
“It did,” she said. “Sometimes it was almost funny.”  
“Funny?”  
“For a few years, he led a company patrolling border fortifications,” Mulan said. “Once, we came to a fortified village where all the men had been killed by raiders. About fifty women, all of them widows, most of them young. A visit from about an equal number of men was… welcomed.”  
“I can imagine,” Aurora said.  
“Philip didn’t take part,” Mulan said. “While everyone else was having a good time, he spent the night alone. Watching the horses.”  
Aurora smiled a little.  
“I can imagine him sitting there,” she said. “Poor boy.”  
Mulan didn’t say any more, and after a minute or two Aurora went back to picking at the splinter.

It was still there the next evening. It had been bothering her all day as they walked through the forest, and while they made camp. She’d tried to help as much as she could, but compared to the other three women she was woefully incompetent. Even Emma, who apparently came from another world entirely and knew nothing about life in the woods, was at least tough, strong and athletic. Mulan and Snow set things up, hunted and gathered food, made the fire and built them shelters. Emma dragged around heavy things, cut down small trees and did other grunt work as Snow instructed her. Aurora gathered some firewood, and couldn’t even get a splinter out of her own finger. The feeling of uselessness did nothing to improve her mood. She wasn’t even dressed anywhere near appropriately, since she’d ran off after the three others without thinking or planning. So she was cold and wet on top of everything else, but she’d be damned before she made a sound to complain. Even if she couldn’t be of any use, she could at least suck it up and suffer in silence.  
She was so caught up in her own misery that it came as a complete surprise when something heavy and warm suddenly fell around her shoulders. She tore her gaze from the fire, startled. Mulan was kneeling next to her.  
“Horse blanket,” she said. “It’s rough and not very clean, but it’ll keep you warm.”  
A lump appeared in Aurora’s throat.  
“Thank you,” she said. “You didn’t have to.”  
Mulan shrugged.  
“We have it, may as well use it,” she said.   
“Again, thank you.”  
Mulan looked down at Aurora’s hand.  
“You’ve been worrying that since yesterday,” she said.  
Aurora smiled and shook her head.  
“It’s just a splinter,” she said.  
“Let me look at it.”  
Aurora held out her hand, and Mulan took it in her own. Her hands weren’t as rough as Aurora had imagined they’d be. Rougher than her own, yes, but anyone but a princess would have that. Mulan’s felt… used. Not worn, exactly, but like a well-used strong tool. They were warm and sure as Mulan’s fingers probed around the splinter, and they felt very nice. Surprisingly nice.  
“We’d better get it out,” Mulan said. “Small things can still cause wound fever, if you’re unlucky.”  
Aurora hadn’t even thought about that. Her heart sank a little further.  
“Ok,” she said. “Do what you need. And please, tell me what I can do to help.”  
Mulan pulled a knife from her belt. Aurora steeled herself.  
“Relax,” Mulan said. “I’m not going to cut, except very shallowly. It will not even draw blood.”  
She very carefully set the edge to Aurora’s skin, nudging the splinter out a fraction of an inch.  
“You are quite like him,” she said.  
Aurora frowned.  
“Quite like who?” she said.  
“Philip.”  
That was so wrong it wasn’t even funny.  
“Really,” she said.  
“Stubborn,” Mulan said. “Strong-headed. Independent. Foolishly self-sacrificing.”  
Aurora couldn’t help laughing a little.  
“That’s what he was like?” she said. “That’s who you followed all those years?”  
She tilted her head a little and thought about it.  
“Yeah,” she said. “I guess I can see that.”  
Mulan put the knife away.  
“Soon done,” she said.  
To Aurora’s complete surprise, she put Aurora’s hand to her own mouth, and gently put her lips on the hurt finger. For a few moments, her tongue probed the skin where the splinter was, and then her teeth closed and the mouth pulled away. Mulan spit.  
“There,” she said. “All gone.”  
She didn’t let go of Aurora’s hand. Aurora didn’t pull it away. The unexpected intimacy, the brief warm wetness of Mulan’s mouth, had sent entirely surprising shivers of pleasure down Aurora’s spine. The memory of it lingered, and as she savored the deliciousness of it something clicked in her mind. Something Mulan had said the night before.  
“Mulan,” she said. “That night in the village with all the women you talked about? Where Philip spent the night entirely alone?”  
The other woman looked confused.  
“Yes?” she said. “What about it?”  
“Where were you?”  
Mulan looked away.  
“Your hand should be fine now,” she said. “If there’s anything left of the splinter, it’s too small to be felt.”  
“You were with one of the women,” Aurora said. “Like all the other soldiers except him.”  
Mulan stood up. Looked down at her, face back to being impassive and hard to read.  
“You never loved him like I did,” Aurora said. “You loved him like a loyal soldier loves a good and kind commander, not as a lover.”  
“He is still dead,” Mulan said.

The next day Aurora found herself looking at Mulan differently. They were walking through the forest as they had for the past few days. Snow went first, since she knew where they were going. After her came Mulan, after that Aurora and finally Emma brought up the rear. Aurora assumed there was some thought behind the arrangement, since it never changed, but she didn’t know what it was. Why she herself was in one of the middle positions was obvious, since that would be the safest in case of attack. The unclear bit was why Mulan wasn’t in the rear. A surprise attack would quite likely come from that direction, and Mulan was clearly their most experienced warrior. In any case, Aurora didn’t argue. There were worse views than Mulan’s back to be had.  
Or maybe she should make that Mulan’s behind rather than her back. Over the course of the morning, Aurora slowly realized that not only was she ogling the warrior woman’s ass, she had unconsciously been doing so the entire trip. Finding out that Mulan went for women had only made her aware of it. Well, that and the feeling of Mulan’s lips on her finger.  
“So,” she said when they’d stopped for lunch. “I’m like Philip, you say?”  
She’d sat down next to Mulan, of course. Snow and Emma had sat down some way away, almost as if they were deliberately giving them privacy.  
“Yes,” Mulan said.  
“Is that good or bad?”  
Mulan put down the piece of bread she was eating and turned to look at Aurora.  
“What?” she said, frowning.  
“Well, there must’ve been a reason you loved him,” Aurora said. “So if you see him in me, that must be either upsetting or alluring for you. So is it good or bad?”  
Mulan looked at her for a very long couple of breaths.  
“Are you sure that’s an either-or question?” she finally said.  
She stood up, adjusting her sword.  
“I’ll scout ahead,” she said, and vanished into the woods.

In the evening, Mulan went hunting while Emma and Snow built two lean-tos, one on each side of the campfire. They were angled in relation to each other and had the stack of firewood placed so it would block line of sight when lying down, Aurora noticed. She’d have bet an apple pie that that wasn’t a coincidence. She’d offered to help, but was politely turned down. So again she was sitting there feeling useless. She’d prepared what she could for making dinner, but there was little she could do until Mulan came back with some game. Even then, Mulan and Snow were both much more skilled at butchering whatever Mulan had caught. Probably better at cooking it, too. Aurora had learned the basics in the castle kitchens, but never practiced it much. It probably was quite different cooking over an open fire out in the woods, too.  
The dinner turned out to be pheasant. As she’d suspected, Snow had butchered it and Mulan cooked it. The result was a solid, filling hot dinner. They ate mostly in silence, and while they were cleaning up it started to rain. There wasn’t much to do but retire after that, so soon she was lying under her horse-blanket in the lean-to. Mulan was lying next to her, bundled up in a much more functional-looking bedroll. Across the wet, dead fire she could tell that Emma and Snow were talking, but not hear what they were saying. Mulan was, as usual, quiet.  
“You should go on without me,” Aurora said. “I’m slowing you down. I’ll catch up later.”  
Mulan turned to look at her.  
“No,” she said.  
Aurora looked back at her.  
“No what?” she said. “No, I won’t catch up later? No, I’m not slowing you down?”  
“We’re not leaving you.”  
Aurora looked away again. There were drops forming on the undersides of the branches that made up the lean-to. Soon they’d be falling on her.  
“None of you chose to have me here,” she said. “You shouldn’t have to suffer because of my poor judgement.”  
“I will not leave you,” Mulan said. “That is my choice.”  
Aurora closed her eyes.  
“Why?” she said.  
There was silence. A drop of cold rainwater fell and hit Aurora squarely between the eyes. She let the water be, not wanting to get her hands out from under the blanket. She started a little when another hand wiped it away.  
“It is good,” Mulan said.  
Aurora frowned.  
“What is?” she said. “The rain?”  
“You asked earlier,” Mulan said. “If it was good or bad that you remind me of him.”  
“Oh,” Aurora said.   
“You remind me of him,” Mulan said. “But you aren’t him.”  
“No, I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t have ran off into the forest with nothing but a flimsy dress on,” Aurora said.  
“No,” Mulan said. “Once with nothing but breeches and a sword, though.”  
Aurora opened her eyes and turned to look at Mulan.  
“Really?” she said. “Breeches and sword?”  
Mulan nodded.  
“Not even boots,” she said.  
“Wow,” Aurora said. “I would’ve liked to see that.”  
Another drop fell on her, making her shiver.  
“You’re cold,” Mulan said.  
“I’ll manage,” Aurora said.  
“You remind me of him,” Mulan said. “But you are not him. You are you. The more I see of you, the more I see the differences. The more I see you.”  
“Is _that_ good or bad?”  
“That blanket won’t keep you warm enough, with the rain,” Mulan said. “You’ll be too cold to sleep. You’ll be miserable tomorrow.”  
“Thank you,” Aurora said. “I like knowing in advance when I’ll be miserable. The expectation adds that little edge to the suffering.”  
An expression flickered across Mulan’s face. Aurora couldn’t tell if it was amusement or annoyance. Possibly it was both.  
“If we share bedding, we will both be warm,” Mulan said.  
Aurora’s imagination instantly went places. Naked, interesting places. She felt her heart start to beat faster.  
“Excuse me?” she said.  
“I promise not to touch you inappropriately,” Mulan said.  
The strength of her own disappointment surprised Aurora.  
“Oh. Good,” she said, weakly.  
She wanted to ask if it’d make a difference if she asked really nicely, but she couldn’t get the words out. Mostly for fear of Mulan saying yes, she realized.  
Mulan unwrapped her blankets and held them open invitingly. She was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and leggings, but just seeing her out of her armor made Aurora feel all funny inside. She swallowed. Mulan had _curves_. And was probably getting cold. Aurora slid out from under her blanket, and in between Mulan’s. She placed herself with her back to the other woman, who neatly pulled the bedroll closed around them both and then added the horse blanket on top.  
“There,” she said. “More comfortable, I hope.”  
Indeed it was. A _lot_ more. Not only was the bedroll a little softer to lie on, the cloth was less scratchy. And then there was the whole thing with having company. Mulan was spooning her, and had slid her strong arm over Aurora’s side, placing it safely on the outside of Aurora’s own. She could clearly feel Mulan’s breasts pushing against her back, and her breath against her neck.  
“Yes,” she said. “It’s… nice.”  
It was far more than just nice.  
“Good,” Mulan said. “Sleep well.”  
Aurora could feel little puffs of air against her skin as Mulan spoke. Her lips must be a mere fraction of an inch away from Aurora’s skin. The temptation to turn around and kiss her was suddenly almost overwhelmingly intense. But worry and fear of rejection were even stronger, and she remained still.  
“You too,” she said. “Good night.”

The next day it wasn’t raining. The sun even shone, bringing some welcome warmth while they walked. Aurora had fallen asleep quicker and slept better than she’d expected, and was in a better mood than she’d been for days. She stopped for a moment here and there to pick some berries, which she then munched on as she walked. The pauses made her lag behind Snow and Mulan, of course, but Emma kept pace with her so she didn’t think it was a problem.  
“So, you and Mulan, huh?” Emma said and tossed another blueberry into her mouth.  
Aurora stiffened a little.  
“What about me and Mulan?” she said.  
“Are you guys, like, or what?” Emma said, gesturing vaguely with her occupied hands.  
“That made no sense whatsoever,” Aurora said.  
“Well, we’ve seen how she looks at you, and…”  
Aurora interrupted.  
“Wait. How she looks at me?” she said. “How _Mulan_ looks at me?”  
“Yeah,” Emma said. “I mean it’s no wonder she does with that dress of yours, pretty much anyone would, but…”  
Aurora interrupted her again.  
“My dress? What about my dress?”  
Emma looked a little embarrassed.  
“Well, it’s kind of thin, and not very dark, and it’s been raining…”  
She made a gesture towards Aurora’s chest. Aurora looked down at herself, and realization struck.  
“Oh no!” she said. “That’s horrible!”  
“It certainly doesn’t _look_ horrible,” Emma said. “And it appears Mulan would agree with that. So, I was wondering, are you and she…?”  
The question trailed off.  
“No,” Aurora said coldly. “We are not. What business of yours is it anyway?”  
Emma shrugged.  
“She’s gorgeous, and I’ve always had a thing for tough women, so if you’re not involved with her I thought I might…”  
A sudden storm of emotion roared to life inside Aurora. She whipped around toward Emma.  
“You most certainly will _not_!” she snarled. “You stay away from her!”  
Emma took a step back.  
“Yikes!” she said. “All right, all right, I’m sorry, I’ll stay away. No need to get that upset about it.”  
Aurora took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.  
“My apologies,” she said. “I have no right to tell you what to do. If you wish to… approach Mulan, that is your right.”  
“Uh-huh,” Emma said. “Right.”  
She looked at the increasingly distant backs of Mulan and Snow.  
“I think we’d better catch up,” she said.

That night they made camp at the edge of a large clearing, looking down into a valley with a river at the bottom. The setting sun bathed the scene in a golden light, and the delicious smell of a roasting rabbit made Aurora’s stomach growl. In spite of the situation, her mood was not good. She couldn’t forget the way she’d exploded at Emma. She hadn’t meant to. It wasn’t like her. It had just happened.  
She picked up a dry twig that happened to lie within reach and slowly broke it into tiny pieces, which she then threw away.  
At the campfire, Mulan was sticking vegetables onto sticks and placing them over the fire. A little further away, Snow and Emma were building another two lean-tos, both facing the view of the valley. Lean-tos in which they’d sleep. Snow and Emma in one, Aurora and Mulan in the other. Again. And since the bedroll situation hadn’t changed, Mulan would almost certainly offer to share hers again. An offer that, Aurora admitted to herself with a sinking feeling, there was no way that she could force herself to turn down. She viciously snapped the remainder of the twig in half and angrily threw it away. She was in love! Infatuated like a little girl! With another woman, who she’d known for less than a month! It was ridiculous, that’s what it was. She closed her eyes and sighed deeply. She’d just have to put up with it until it passed. If it does, a little voice at the back of her head said. That’s far from certain. She ignored the voice. It couldn’t be right. It _mustn’t_ be right.  
“You look troubled.”  
Aurora opened her eyes, startled. Mulan was standing right in front of her. The rays of the setting sun painted her skin a deep golden hue, and threw her features into stark relief. There was a tiny furrow of worry between her eyebrows.  
“I’m fine,” Aurora said.  
She forced herself to smile. Mulan didn’t look like she was convinced.  
“I cannot help you unless I know what’s wrong,” she said.  
Aurora stood up.  
“Nothing’s wrong,” she said. “Really.”  
Mulan tilted her head.  
“Emma is smirking at us,” she said. “Do you know why?”  
Aurora tried her hardest not to look mortified.  
“No,” she lied. “I don’t.”  
Mulan looked at her for a few long, long moments.  
“Food is ready,” she finally said.  
She turned and walked back to the campfire. Aurora took a moment to collect her scattered feelings before she followed.

After dinner, Aurora volunteered to take the dishes down to the river and clean them. Not only did it make her feel not quite so much as a dead weight, it also delayed the moment when she had to crawl into the lean-to with Mulan. She dreaded that moment, at the same time as the thought of being close to her filled Aurora’s stomach with wonderful butterflies. At least she wore clothes to bed. Getting into bed with a _naked_ Mulan and not be able to run her hands all over her would’ve been pure torture.  
Aurora got so deep into thought that when someone suddenly touched her shoulder, she started so badly she almost fell in the water.   
“Sorry,” Mulan said. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”  
“That’s OK,” Aurora said as she tried to draw deep breaths and get her heart to slow down to something approaching normal. “You’re quite stealthy.”  
“I’m not,” Emma said. “I can’t believe you didn’t hear me! What were you thinking about?”  
The annoying blonde was standing just a few steps behind Mulan. Aurora couldn’t believe she hadn’t seen her.   
“Nothing,” she said. “Is there a problem?”  
“No,” Emma said. “We just thought we’d make use of the last daylight and take a bath. We’re all pretty grungy after walking through the woods for days. Mary-Marga–“  
She interrupted herself.  
“I mean, _Snow_ is watching the camp while we’re down here.”  
“Oh,” Aurora said. “Well, that sounds like a good–“  
She turned her gaze from Emma to Mulan and the power of speech left her. Mulan had dropped her armor and gambeson to the ground, and as Aurora turned to her she was pulling her undershirt off and tossing it to the side. Leaving her smooth, tanned skin and surprisingly generous breasts in plain view. Aurora knew that she shouldn’t stare, but she couldn’t help herself. As she watched, Mulan removed the rest of her clothes and waded into the water. She looked back at Aurora and Emma over her shoulder. Her muscular, wide shoulders, attached to just as strong arms and an athletic back curving down to slightly narrow but still very feminine hips. Aurora let out a little whimper.  
“Are you coming?” Mulan said.   
Without waiting for an answer, she ran a few steps forward and dove into the water.  
“I don’t know about you,” Emma said. “But I’m going to get naked and join her. That’s one seriously sweet ass.”  
Aurora had never stripped so fast in her life. She was out of her dress and underthings in the blink of an eye, and running after Mulan into the water a moment later. She dove, swam a bit under water and surfaced tossing her head to get the water out of her eyes. Mulan was a couple of arms-lengths away, smiling at her.  
“I didn’t know if you could swim,” she said.  
“Learned in the castle moat,” Aurora said.  
“I learned in a lake,” Mulan said.  
“I’m sure it had cleaner water,” Aurora said.   
The river water wasn’t anywhere close to warm, but she wasn’t about to complain. She started swimming to keep warm, aiming for a circle around Mulan. The warrior woman didn’t stay put, but started swimming alongside Aurora.  
“It’s a bit cold for me,” she said. “I think I’ll just wash and get up. Give Snow a chance to take a bath before it gets fully dark.”  
“I guess you’re right,” Aurora said. “Do you have soap?”  
Mulan nodded.  
“I can do your back, if you want,” she said.   
“Only if I get to do yours,” Aurora’s libido blurted out before she could stop it.  
Mulan smiled at her.  
“It’s a deal,” she said. “Come.”  
She swam in to the riverbank with efficient, powerful strokes, and Aurora followed. It probably looked nowhere near as impressive, but at least she was competent at it.  
“We should wash your dress too,” Mulan said as she dug a handful of soap out of a leather pouch. “It’ll be dry by morning if we hang it by the fire. Turn around.”  
Aurora turned around. Her eyes fluttered closed for a moment when she felt Mulan’s hands on her back.  
“I’m not that enthusiastic about walking around undressed,” she said. “Even if it only is until we get into the bedroll.”  
“You can borrow my gambeson,” Mulan said. “It won’t fit you very well and it’s fairly heavy, but it’ll keep you covered almost down to your knees.”  
“I guess that’ll work,” she said.  
She leaned into Mulan’s hands.  
“That feels so good,” she said.  
“Want me to do more than your back?”  
So many things tried to get said at the same time that she just choked on them and nothing came out.  
“Um, thanks, but, er, not now?” she managed to say after a little while.  
Her old elocution teacher would’ve been appalled, had she been alive. And present.  
“As you wish,” Mulan said. “I’m done.”  
She handed the soap pouch to Aurora and knelt with her back to her in the shallow water. Aurora swallowed, gathered her wits and knelt down behind her. She gathered some soap in her hand and started gently but firmly cleaning Mulan’s back. It felt so good to touch her, even innocently like this. If it was innocent. The comment about doing more than just the back made her wonder about that. But she didn’t say anything, and far too soon she had been doing it for so long it started getting suspicious.  
“There,” she said. “All done.”  
“Thank you,” Mulan said. “Let’s get dressed and let Snow have a go, then.”  
It wasn’t until some time later, when she was again lying with Mulan’s arms around her in the bedroll, that it occurred to her that Emma hadn’t joined them in the water.

Around noon the next day Mulan came running back from one of her patrol sweeps, gesturing at them to be silent.  
“Ogre?” Snow whispered when she’d stopped in front of them.  
Mulan held up two fingers. Snow nodded.  
“Emma, Aurora,” Snow said. “Hide. Mulan and I will deal with them.”  
Aurora looked at Mulan, who nodded.  
“OK,” she said.  
She took hold of Emma’s sleeve.  
“Come,” she said, voice low. “Between those rocks.”  
“But…” Emma said as Aurora pulled her away.  
“Don’t use that noise thing of yours,” Mulan said.  
She set off into the forest, Snow following close behind. They squeezed into the hiding place Aurora had spotted, and after that there was nothing to do but wait. While listening intently for any telling noises that might come their way and, of course, worrying. Which, unfortunately, is a really bad way to make time pass. Aurora kept seeing disaster scenarios play out for her inner eye. Mulan being hit with a huge club. Mulan getting her ribcage smashed in. Mulan having her head bitten off.  
“God, I hate waiting,” Emma mumbled.  
They lay pressed hard against each other, front to front, rough stone behind their backs.  
“Me too,” Aurora said. “Do you have any better ideas?”  
“No,” Emma grumbled. “This world is stupid.”  
She seemed to realize what she’d said and looked apologetically at Aurora.  
“Sorry,” she said.  
“Don’t be,” Aurora said. “At the moment, I’m inclined to agree with you.”  
“Ah, good,” Emma said. “I guess.”  
A deafening roar cut through the silence of the forest, shortly followed by dull thuds, crashes and cracking wood. There were more roaring, several twangs of a bowstring and then a human scream.  
Aurora and Emma looked at each other, both scared.  
“Who was that?” Emma said.  
“ _Mulan_!” they heard Snow shout.  
There were many bowstring twangs in short succession.  
“Fuck,” Aurora said.  
She was out of the hiding place and running in the direction of the noise before she’d consciously decided to. She had no idea what she was going to do once she got there, but she had to do _something_. She’d never be able to live with herself if she just lay there while Mulan was badly hurt or, and her heart clenched up at the thought, killed. There were many more thuds ahead, and sounds of what must be falling trees. Trees like the ones just in front of her. She clambered over a fallen oak, ran past a couple more and finally she could see what was happening.  
Snow was standing with her back to Aurora, bow drawn. For some reason, she wasn’t firing. One ogre lay still off to her side, an arrow sticking out of its eye. Another ogre was standing up in front of Snow, and at first Aurora thought it was clawing at its own face. It took a breath or two before things sorted themselves out for her. When they did, her heart nearly stopped.  
Mulan had her legs around the ogre’s neck, and was hanging on for dear life as the monster tried to tear her away. She was holding her sword reversed, with both hands on its hilt, and as Aurora watched she slammed the long blade through the ogre’s eye-socket and into its brain. The ogre let out an ear-splitting roar, and in its death-throes managed to rip Mulan from its neck and throw her through the air.   
It felt like Aurora’s heart stopped.  
Mulan came flying toward her, too high and too fast. For the second time in less than a minute, Aurora’s body acted before her brain got in gear. By the time the thought passed through her mind that she might be able to get to Mulan and somehow break her fall, she was already sprinting in the right direction. Only Mulan was approaching so fast, she wasn’t going to get to the impact spot in time. She wrung a last bit of energy out of her legs, dashed a few more steps and then just threw herself forward. She had some vague idea of having Mulan fall on her, to cushion her fall. But she was a fraction of a second to late for that, and instead ended up doing something not unlike tackling her. The impact slammed the air from her lungs, and for a few moments the entire forest spun wildly around her. She hit something with a huge splash, and something else hit her a split second later. Then everything was still.  
When her mind cleared, she was lying in something wet and cold. Something hard and heavy was on top of her. She drew breath, about to laugh at being alive, but a sharp stabbing pain in her side stole her breath away. Instead of the laugh, a painful yelp escaped her.  
The hard weight on top of her went away.  
“Aurora?” Mulan said.  
“Got you,” Aurora forced out from uncooperative lungs.  
She forced her eyes open. Mulan was kneeling next to her, looking scared.  
“Are you OK?” Aurora said.  
Mulan looked to the side.  
“Yes,” she said. “Thanks to you, it seems.”  
“Oh, nice,” Aurora said. “I’m good for _something_.”  
“That was very quick thinking,” Mulan said. “Pushing us into the mud like that.”  
“Just luck,” Aurora gasped.  
Mulan’s hand gently probed her side.  
“Ow,” she said.  
“Nothing broken,” Mulan said. “Good.”  
“How do you know?” Aurora said. “It hurts!”  
“If it was, you’d have screamed or passed out,” Mulan said. “Hold on to me.”  
She worked one arm under Aurora’s shoulder and one under her knees. Aurora, with some gasping at the pain, wrapped her arms tightly around Mulan’s neck.  
“There was a stream a little way back,” Mulan said. “We’ll make camp there.”  
“OK,” Aurora heard Snow say. “We’ll run ahead and set up.”  
Apparently without effort, Mulan lifted Aurora out of the mud and started walking.

This time, Snow had augmented the lean-to with an outer wall. Which made it a simple hut rather than a lean-to, Aurora guessed. She was lying on a bed of dry twigs and grass covered with the by now familiar horse blanket. There was a slowly pulsing ache down the entire left side of her ribcage. She kind of liked having it. It proved that she’d done something. She’d like it less as soon as she had to move, but for the moment things were all right. She closed her eyes, and managed to drift off to sleep for a time. When she woke up again, Mulan was sitting next to her. She’d taken off her armor, and for once she was smiling.  
“That was pretty stupid,” she said.  
“Thank you,” Aurora said. “I can tell.”  
“It also saved me from being badly hurt,” Mulan said. “Or even killed. So you have my gratitude.”  
“It’s nice to be on the giving side for once,” Aurora said.  
“I’d like to take your clothes off,” Mulan said.  
“Excuse me?!” Aurora said.  
Not that she really _minded_ , now, but she wanted it put a little more romantically.  
“I thought it was the savior who got the princess,” she added. “Not the other way around.”  
To her amazement, Mulan actually blushed. Not much, but enough.  
“My apologies,” she said. “I didn’t mean it like that. Your dress is still full of mud, and I’d like to take a closer look and check that the damage really is only bruising. Also, you’re the only princess here.”  
“Oh,” Aurora said. “I guess that makes sense.”  
She made an effort to sit up, so Mulan could get at the ties at the back of her dress. The pain in her side crested badly enough that she almost fell down again, but Mulan caught her with an arm behind her back.  
“Easy,” she said. “Let me.”  
Her strong warrior’s fingers started undoing Aurora’s dress. In spite of the situation, it caused tingles of pleasure every time Mulan touched her skin. She closed her eyes and leaned her head on Mulan’s shoulder as the warrior gently removed her dress. As the dress came off, Mulan covered her with a blanket from her bedroll. It didn’t cover as much, but it was dry and much thicker than the dress. When the dress was entirely removed, Mulan pulled the front cover of the lean-to aside and handed it to someone waiting outside.  
“You can lie down again,” she said, once the cover was back.  
Aurora did. The pain in her side receded considerably, and she sighed in relief.  
“May I?” Mulan said.  
“Of course,” Aurora said.  
Cold air hit her skin again as Mulan lifted the blanket, even though she only moved it just enough that she could see Aurora’s side. She looked carefully, and for quite some time. A couple of times she gently probed Aurora’s skin, and every time it drew winces from Aurora.  
“You will be very stiff tomorrow,” Mulan finally said. “We’ll probably have to take a rest day.”  
“Great,” Aurora said. “I’m delaying us even more.”  
“It wouldn’t have been any better if you hadn’t been there,” Mulan said. “I would at least have had broken bones. A bruise will heal much faster, even a huge one.”  
Aurora looked at her.  
“How come you’re not hurt?” she said. “You’re the one who actually fell!”  
“I was on the padded side of my armor,” Mulan said. “I do have bruises, but they’re smaller than yours and I’m much more used to having them.”  
“It’s not fair that I don’t get to see yours,” Aurora said. “You’ve seen mine. Even touched them.”  
Mulan tilted her head a little. For a few moments, she looked silently at Aurora. Then she started taking her shirt off.  
“What are you doing?” Aurora asked.  
As more skin became visible, she tried to stare and look away at the same time. Neither worked very well, and pretty soon she gave up trying not to look. Mulan dropped the shirt to the ground.  
“Showing you mine,” she said.  
She had a line of bruises down her side. Unlike Aurora’s, hers were in a grid-like pattern.  
“Why do they look like that?” Aurora asked.  
“The gambeson,” Mulan said. “It spreads the force so the impact is less serious in any one spot, but there are more of them. And it leaves an imprint of itself like that.”  
“Oh,” Aurora said.  
Unable to help herself, she reached out and ran her fingertips down the bruised skin. Mulan gasped and closed her eyes. Aurora snatched her hand back.  
“Oh! Sorry!” she said. “I didn’t mean to hurt you!”  
Mulan opened her eyes and smiled at Aurora.  
“You did not,” she said.  
Aurora frowned in confusion.  
“I didn’t?” she said. “Then why…oh.”  
The answer hit her before she’d got the whole question out. For what felt like a long, long time they just lay there looking into each others’ eyes.  
“Um,” Aurora eventually said. “You’ve saved me a few times, haven’t you?”  
“I believe I have,” Mulan said.  
“So, shouldn’t you…”  
Aurora had to pause and screw up her courage before she could finish the sentence.  
“…have the princess?” she said.  
Mulan smiled.  
“My homeland doesn’t have that tradition,” she said.  
“Oh,” Aurora said.  
She had no idea what to do next.  
“But,” Mulan said. “I might go along with it anyway.”  
She bent down and placed a brief feather-soft kiss on Aurora’s lips.  
“If the princess really wanted me to,” she said.  
A heady mixture of heat and chill coursed through Aurora’s innards.  
“I see,” she said. “And how might a princess convince you that she really did?”  
“Right now, quite easily,” Mulan said.  
As she was looking into Mulan’s eyes, it dawned on Aurora that right at that moment, the courageous warrior woman was just as nervous as she was. She raised her hand and stroked Mulan’s cheek.  
“You’re so beautiful,” she whispered.  
She moved her hand up the side of Mulan’s head, through her hair to the back of her head. Once it was there, she pulled her down and into a kiss.  
For the first few moments after their lips met, they were both careful and slow. But then Aurora opened her mouth, inviting Mulan in, and passion took over in an instant. They kissed furiously, more urgently and hungrily than Aurora had ever kissed anyone before. She wanted to have Mulan close, to feel and know her entire body so very, very badly. She broke the kiss.  
“Wait,” she said, short of breath.  
Mulan pulled back her head and started to get up.  
“Of course,” she said. “I didn’t…”  
Aurora grabbed her arm and pulled her back down.  
“I want you under this blanket, not on top of it,” she said. “And since I’m stark naked under here, I feel it’s no more than fair if you do the same.”  
It felt like all the unpleasant parts of what she’d been feeling just a minute ago had just disappeared. What remained was a wonderful raw desire, laced with anticipation. It was intoxicating.  
“Are you sure?” Mulan said. “You don’t have…”  
“Yes,” Aurora interrupted. “And didn’t you say just now that you’d be easy to convince?”  
Mulan smiled.  
“So I did,” she said.  
As quickly as was possible in the cramped space of the lean-to, she stripped off her remaining clothes. Aurora lifted the blanket, and Mulan lay down next to her. She turned over on her side and ran her hand down Aurora’s chest, between her breasts. Aurora involuntarily let out a deeply pleased sound.  
“Mmm, nice,” she said.  
She turned over on her side, so she’d be able to properly kiss Mulan.  
Over on her bruised side.  
The moment she put her weight on it, her vision blacked out from the pain. She yelped and fell down on her back again.  
“Are you all right?” Mulan said, clearly scared.  
Aurora nodded.  
“Forgot about the hurt for a moment,” she gasped. “And before you say something, I still want you. Right here, right now.”  
There was a noticeable pause before Mulan spoke.  
“As you wish,” she said.  
“Just,” Aurora said, “please be careful, will you?”  
Mulan’s hand returned to Aurora’s chest, only this time it ended up curled around one of her breasts, a finger slowly circling the nipple. The sensation made Aurora’s breath hitch, and efficiently drove out the memory of the pain.  
“I promise,” Mulan whispered in her ear.  
And she was.

Later that evening, Aurora was lying on her good side with Mulan behind her, just as they had for the last few nights. Except now Mulan’s arm was clearly embracing her, and she was holding her hand over Mulan’s. Soft, slow breath tickled her neck. She felt wonderfully relaxed and content, and if not for the dull ache in her bruised side everything would’ve been perfect. As it was, the ache kept her from sleeping. But lying there in her lover’s arms felt good enough that she didn’t really mind.  
As she relaxed, she noticed that she could hear Snow and Emma’s voices. They were talking softly to each other. Aurora tried not to listen to what they were saying, but when she noticed her own name she couldn’t help but try to hear.  
“See?” Emma was saying. “Didn’t I tell you Xena and Gabrielle over there would get together? All they needed was a few gentle nudges.”  
“I’m not sure if I’d call your butting in gentle,” Snow said.  
“It worked, didn’t it?”  
“Yes. You were right, Emma. You’re very clever.”  
“See? Who do you think I should do next? Ruby and Ashley?”  
“Go to sleep, daughter.”  
For a few moments, there was silence. Then Emma spoke again, more softly.  
“Good night, mom,” she said.  
There was such wonder in her voice.  
Aurora pushed herself a little closer to Mulan. Held her hand a little more firmly.  
“Good night, love,” she whispered.

  



End file.
